Man vandalizes own home out of frustration with the Pico Rivera sheriff’s station

Gilbert Ramirez, 51, vandalized the Slauson Avenue house in Pico Rivera he shares with his elderly mother Annie Ramirez to bring attention to a family dispute involving his siblings and alleged physical abuse by police while in jail October 29, 2013. (Staff photo by Venusse Navid)

Gilbert Ramirez, 51, vandalized the Slauson Avenue house in Pico Rivera he shares with his elderly mother Annie Ramirez to bring attention to a family dispute involving his siblings and alleged physical abuse by police while in jail October 29, 2013. (Staff photo by Venusse Navid)

A man vandalized his own home and van Tuesday with hateful messages directed toward the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, as well as names of a few Pico Rivera sheriff’s deputies.

Deputies were responding to a call about 3:34 a.m. about two males possibly armed with a weapon in a vacant lot near the vandalized home in the area of Slauson Avenue and Crossway Drive, Sgt. Richard Hernandez said.

Hernandez said no one was found and no weapons were recovered.

He said the call came from the vandalized home and when officers attempted to make contact with the owner, no one answered.

“Whoever was home wouldn’t speak to deputies,” Hernandez said.

Gilbert Ramirez, 51, who lives in the vandalized home, said he called deputies about the men.

Ramirez claims that he spray-painted his own home after various failed attempts to report a family dispute to the Sheriff’s Department.

He claims his brother made death threats to his elderly mother, Annie Ramirez.

Annie claims her son, Andy, said he was going to kill her and bury her in the desert.

Gilbert said he and his mother have visited the station within the past few weeks to report the threats.

“Nobody cared to hear my complaints,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert’s next-door neighbor, Mary Rivas, said Annie had mentioned the family dispute.

“(Annie) said (her children) want me out of here and they want to put me in a home, but I’m not going anywhere,” Rivas said.

Rivas has known the family about 15 years.

“He just got his anger out, but the graffiti doesn’t help because the odds are against him already with his family,” Rivas said.

The black spray-painted home and van displayed vulgar language and the date Gilbert was incarcerated in early 2012 at the Los Angeles County Jail.

The mounting frustration he felt from his treatment in jail in addition to not being helped by the local department led to the vandalism, he said.